How many trans people need to die for Europe to take action?

23 Nov 2015

Every year on November 20, the trans community remembers and mourns those trans people who lost their lives to transphobia. During the past 12 months, 11 trans persons were reported murdered in Europe [1], but many more murders go unnoticed. On this Transgender Day of Remembrance, TGEU calls on the European Commission to extend current European hate crime framework to cover for gender identity, and on the Council of Europe to upscale their efforts to combat transphobic violence.

Boglarka Fedorko, TGEU project manager comments “Crimes against trans people go unnoticed, unreported, and unpunished. Often authorities do not recognise the scale of the problem and law enforcement officials themselves hold prejudiced and transphobic attitudes.” [2]

While there has been increased awareness about transphobic hate crimes and discrimination [3] in Europe in the past years, there is still a lack of commitment and comprehensive measures to prevent transphobic crimes by public officials.

“Trans people in Europe need the EU to act swiftly. The Framework Decision on Racism and Xenophobia [4] should be extended to also tackle other crimes committed for a different bias. Many trans people get targeted because of an intertwined racist motive, or for a hate of women, and sex workers.” Boglarka Fedorko adds.

EU Member states had until this week to implement the Victims Rights Directive [5], which provides an obligation for member states to take action in better protecting and better supporting trans victims of violence. According to the Directive, trans victims to a crime are entailed to an individual assessment to prevent repeat victimisation, and shelters and victim support services must open their services to trans people.

Finally, TGEU Executive Board Member Krisztina Kolos Orban, asks “all Member states of the Council of Europe agreed to upscale their efforts on transphobic violence when agreeing to the Committee of Ministers LGBT Recommendations in 2010 [6]. How many more trans people have to die until significant action is taken in Europe?”

Transgender Europe is a European human rights NGO working for the human rights and equality of all trans people. More Information: www.tgeu.org

Transgender or Trans is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity or expression differs from the sex assigned to them at birth.

Transgender Day of Remembrance is held on November 20th every year since 1999. It is a day to remember those trans people who have been victims of homicide. The day raises public awareness of hate crimes against trans people, provides a space for public mourning and honours the lives of those trans people who might otherwise be forgotten.

[3] TGEU’s Pro Trans (http://tgeu.org/pro-trans/) project monitored 101 cases of transphobic hate crime in 9 months.
EU Commission, October 2015, Eurobarometer, on Discrimination in the EU in 2015 “More than half of respondents in the European Union say that discrimination is widespread in their country on the basis of gender identity. (56%)”

[4] The Framework Decision on Racism and Xenophobia ensures that certain serious manifestations of racism and xenophobia are punishable by effective, proportionate and dissuasive criminal penalties throughout the European Union (EU). Where racist or xenophobic motivation is considered an aggravating factor. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=URISERV:l33178